If I stay
by lizzieten
Summary: Naruto had a choice, he could live and save Sakura or he could die and meet his parents, which choice will he make?


IF I stay

The day started out like any other, waking up to the warm sunshine on his face, he stretches lazily before throwing his feet over the side of the stone slab he called a bed. Naruto had no way of knowing that by the end of the day, he would end up fighting for his life.

Naruto dragged himself out of bed, and towards his bathroom, he had a team meeting not long from now, and he wanted to get there a little early before so that he could do a little warming up on his own. Stepping into his restroom, he walked towards the shower and turned it on. He waited for a few minutes before he stepped under the warm stream. As he soaped up, he sighed in contentment, these days his life couldn't have been happier. It had taken him a long time to get to this point but now that he was here, he was glad he had stayed strong, and didn't let the darkness or the pain drag him down. Things had changed a few years ago, when he had been placed on his genin team, of course, those changes had not taken place overnight, Sasuke had left but Naruto along with Kakashi and Sakura had dragged him back, and had somehow managed to talk some sense into him. So now Sasuke was currently not focused on revenge, instead he'd was set out on beating Naruto at everything, in which he had yet to succeed.

A few minutes later Naruto stepped out from the shower, quickly toweling off, he headed into the kitchen to make his daily cup of ramen. He could have afforded something different but he truly did like ramen. While he was waiting for the water to warm up, he started picking up the trash he'd left littered around the area. He had never been a neat person, and as he had gotten older, that still hadn't changed.

He returned to the kitchen three minutes later just in time to hear the timer for the water go off. Grabbing a cup of ramen from the cabinet right above the stove, he ripped the top off and sat it on the counter. Taking the kettle off he poured it over the noodles. He waited just a few more moments, before grabbing his eating utensils he sat down at his table; he sucked the noodles down pretty fast. By the time he was finished eating it was time to head out to the training ground. He wondered briefly if he went by Sakura's place if she would walk to the training area with him. Then again it was still pretty early and he didn't really want to risk getting a headache. Sakura had one heck of a temper and she wasn't afraid to try and beat some sense into Naruto, if he did something that she didn't like.

"I wonder if teme is up yet?" Naruto wondered out loud, but then thinking about it for a moment decided that he probably was. Sasuke lately especially had tried to outdo Naruto at everything. Naruto chuckled it was always fun competing with the teme, and it only solidified their friendship. Grabbing his jacket Naruto walked out the door and down the long hall towards the exit.

By the time he had reached the sidewalk right outside his building, he was quietly humming to himself, not really paying attention to his surroundings; nobody had attacked him for having the nine tails inside him anymore, not in a long time. So on this particular walk he wasn't particularly worried about his safety, he had grown stronger since being placed on Kakashi's team.

He was about halfway to the training ground when he saw Sakura in an alleyway, with several men surrounding her, and from the looks of it, they were up to know good. With no thinking about his actions Naruto turned and made several shadow clones and jumped into the fray, but within seconds every single clone had been dispersed, leaving Naruto with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He was about to make some more when he was hit with what looked like a tranquillizer dart.

"You should know by now that that's not stopping me" Naruto shouted as he punched one of the ninja in the face.

"Want to bet?" the nin asked "How about if it's coated with a fast acting poison that affects nine tails chakra so you can't heal?" Naruto frowned, he'd never heard of anything like that being possible. He jumped in front of Sakura determined he was going to protect her at all costs. She was a good friend and he wasn't turning his back on her.

It wasn't long after that that he started feeling a little sluggish, but he was determined to do whatever it took to take care of Sakura, his friends came before he did.

"It's more than possible" the nin laughed as the poison started taking affect. "you see we were hired to take your pink haired friend with us, but we were told to expect you to try to stop us, we were given a poison just for the nine tails brat. But I think we will leave you with departing present." While one of the ninja had knocked Sakura out and had her bound in ropes during the conversation, the other ninja's surrounded Naruto and began beating him, knowing full well that at the moment, the poison was slowing down nine tails healing capabilities which meant for once they could easily kill the brat now.

Several minutes later, while still beating an unconscious Naruto, they heard the sounds of other ninja's approaching.

"I don't think the genjutus will be working much longer so hurry up with the brat, we got the pink haired bitch we need to go" their leader called out.

Satisfied that the nine tails lay near death, the grabbed their packs and slinking out of the ally, not dispelling the genjutus until they were a safe distance away.

It wasn't long after that, that Sasuke just happened to be passing by the ally on the way to the training ground, when the strong scent of blood caught his attention. Fearing what it could be, Sasuke turned and saw his friend lying limply on the ground, a small pool of blood growing around him.

Panic crawled into his heart as he raced towards the motionless body, skidding to a halt, he knelt and began checking his injuries. It was clear that several ribs were broken, along with Naruto's jaw, and both his wrists were broke as well. Add to the list was the fact, that Naruto's breathing sounded labored which meant that he likely had a punctured lung.

"What happened to you?" Sasuke cried out, wondering how he was supposed to get help for his friend, when he didn't want to leave him along on the cold hard ground. "I'm going to kill whoever done this to you!" he hissed as he finally made his decision, it was apparent that Naruto wasn't being healed and he was in desperate need of help.

"I hate leaving you" Sasuke said "but you need a lot more help than I can give you." Sasuke spun around reaching for a kuni when he felt another presence behind him. he was relieved to see it was a very pissed off Kakashi.

"What the hell happened?" he demanded hating to see his student so badly beaten especially when he knew that Naruto had the strength to keep this from happening.

"I don't know but I don't think he has much time, he needs the hospital" Sasuke said. Kakashi kneeled without being asked and gently lifted the badly beaten teen into his arms.

Kakashi raced across rooftops towards the Konoha Hospital, he prayed that he made it in time. Each obviously painful breath that Naruto took broke his heart. He hated the wheezing sound of it knowing that he couldn't do anything until they were at the hospital.

Finally five minutes later Kakashi raced through the emergency room doors, with his package. He hollered for someone to help him and several nurses upon seeing the severity of the situation rushed to help. They had all come to love the kid in their own way, they didn't like seeing him like this either.

Once Naruto was taken back Sasuke and Kakashi were left to wait.

"Where's Sakura?" Kakashi asked frowning, it was a bit strange not seeing their pink haired teammate.

"I assumed she was still at her house, otherwise, I don't know" Sasuke said. But if that was true, then she would probably have heard about Naruto by now and would have been waiting with them to find out the condition of their friend.

"I think I should probably go check on her" Kakashi said "let her know that training has been canceled for the day" Sasuke nodded and Kakashi disappeared leaving Sasuke to his thoughts. He clenched his hands tightly into fists, just at remembering finding his friend bloody and unconscious. He wondered if someone was after nine tails again. He hoped not but he would willingly fight to protect Naruto, one of his only true friends beside Kakashi and Sakura.

Nearly an hour later Kakashi returned without Sakura which made Sasuke wonder where she was.

"I checked her house and the training fields, and everywhere she liked to go, she's just not here." Kakashi said frowning as warning bells started ringing in his head. He didn't think Naruto's beating, and Sakura's disappearance was a coincidence, he just wondered how they were connected.

"So Sakura's missing now?" Sasuke asked concern in his voice, what the hell was happening to his team? Kakashi nodded to Sasuke's question and then lost himself to the possibilities for why this was happening.

Four hours later Tsunade came out of the operating room and headed toward the waiting student and teacher.

"He's in critical condition and there is no guarantee that he will make it through the night, due to the severity of his injuries. Which include internal bleeding, broken ribs and jaw, and a punctured lung? Would somebody mind explaining why he was brought in like this, and better yet why isn't nine tails fixing this mess."

"I found him like that in an ally" Sasuke said, "I don't know why it happened but once I find out who I am going to kill them."

"Not until I do" Tsunade said making no pretense of how she felt about the boisterous blonde.

"Would it be okay to see Naruto right now?" Sasuke asked and Tsunade frowned.

"He's being settled into a room right now, so you won't be able to see him for a while yet."

Sasuke nodded and got up in went in search of something to eat. Kakashi then informed Tsunade of Sakura's disappearance.

"Their connected" Kakashi said "I know they are but I can't figure out how."

"We will find out soon" Tsunade said scowling at the thought of her ninja's just being taken out of her village without being seen or heard.

Meanwhile in Naruto's room, a ghostly version of the blonde was staring down in horror at his body, he hadn't thought he'd been beaten so badly, but apparently he had been. Something else that happened to bother the hell out of him was how the hell was his body breathing, but he was having an out of body experience? It didn't make sense to him, but he hoped he could find out what was going on soon. For the sake of his friends, he knew they would be insane with worry right about now. and that fact that the ninja had taken Sakura and he was the only one who could identify them. How the hell did he get out of this mess?

**Okay hope you like, it was a weird idea, I was reading if I stay and got this idea. I'm working on a novel so I don't know how often I will be able to update but I promise I will try and it won't take a month to do so. Thanks for reading and reviewing Liz.**


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